Kirby 64--The Crystal Shards
by Stoney
Summary: A fanfic adaptation of Kirby 64! The evil prescence Dark Matter has conquered the peaceful planet of Ripple Star. One inhabitant of the planet manages to escape and befriends Kirby. Can they find the shards of the shattered Great Crystal in time?
1. Prolouge

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Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards A fanfiction based on the video game by Nintendo/HAL Laboratories  
  
Written by Stoney  
  
LEGAL JUNK  
  
Kirby, Waddle Dee, King DeDeDe, Adeline, Dark Matter, Ribbon, Rick, Coo, Kine, Gooey, and all other related people/planets/locations are copyright to Nintendo/HAL Laboratories, blah, blah, blah, blah. Sorry, but I had to write this in case some smartass lawyer decides to actually READ this 'fic. Of course, I doubt that any professional lawyer would have nothing better to do than read fanfiction, but you never know. I have the impression that you people don't care. On with the 'fic! This story is very important, and I'm only gonna write it once, so read it carefully!  
  
  
  
  
  
Prolouge  
  
  
  
Clear, blue skies. A few whisps of cloud, here and there. The sun shone down brightly, cheerfully, basking the entire planet of Ripple Star within its warm glow. It was a beautiful day, and Ribbon was enjoying it immensely.  
  
"Tra la la. I love life! Dum da la dee doo..." Ribbon sing-songed to no one in particular. She was floating along above the town square of the capital city Floria, the two sets of wings on her back fluttering too fast to be seen. She had a certain destination in mind today. Up ahead of her was the Palace, where her mother, the Queen, worked and stayed. The building was incredible. Walls of white marble gleamed in the sunlight. Intricately carved statues and other decorations could be found on the outside of the building, which towered high above the other edifices in the city. Within were several floors of beautifully decorated hallways, and rooms too numerous to count. The staff at the Palace treated her like an old friend whenever she went there, so she was looking forward to this visit. Although everyone knew and understood Ribbon's positon of royalty, she was thought of as a friend and equal among the populace. Personally, she preferred it that way: modesty was one of her stronger personality traits.  
  
Ribbon was the future princess of Ripple Star. She was a fairy, and as such was rather small. Two feet high, to be exact. She didn't mind the height disadvantage, though, since her wings allowed her to fly up to any height she wanted. She wore a plain red dress that wasn't too long, since it would get in the way of her flying if it was. Her ever-present red ribbon occupied its usual place inside her chin-length red hair. The ribbon was the reason for her nickname. Her real name was too hard for other faries to remember; it slipped her mind even now. So she simply went by 'Ribbon' instead. Nobody seemed to mind.  
  
"La la tra la la!" Ribbon finished her song with a flourish. She was almost to the Palace now. Several other faries milled about the town square in front of the Palace, going about doing various things. Some of them bowed to Ribbon as she passed, others she knew well waved and shouted greetings. She greeted them all in return with the same calm happiness that she always displayed.  
  
Ribbon thought back to the reason she was going to visit her mother. It was partially because she had not visited the Palace in a while, but mostly because of an event that had happened the day before.  
  
Ribbon had been on the outskirts of Floria, in a large field of colorful flowers. She was thinking of picking a batch to take home when she noticed the sky get dark. She had looked up to find a large black cloud off in the distance, moving towards the east. It wasn't headed toward her, so she remained calm and simply watched it. It appeared to be getting larger as she looked, but it couldn't have been. It must've been her imagination.  
  
Nonetheless, the sight of that cloud set off a tiny alarm inside her brain. She'd never seen something like that before on Ripple Star. Just looking at the cloud filled her with a mysterious unknown dread. She didn't know what the cloud was, but she knew she needed to report it to her mother anyway.  
  
She'd arrived at the Palace entrance and was mulling over all this when it happened.  
  
It grew dark. Very dark. So dark that it seemed like nighttime had come in an instant. Ribbon blinked and looked up at the sky, muttering, "What in the world...?"  
  
An enormous black cloud identical to the one she had seen yesterday was descending down from the sky. From the edge of the cloud to the horizon, the sky was covered over with the blackness. The vast expansse of darkness was sweeping over the town, engulfing everything like smoke or a very thick fog. Nothing could be seen within it--it was a total and complete absence of light. And it was getting nearer.  
  
That same strange dread filled Ribbon again. With a yell she wheeled about and flew into the Palace as other fairies ran for their own homes to seek shelter. Some unlucky faries were engulfed by the darkness, and were never seen again.  
  
Ribbon flew as fast as her wings could carry her. She had to go get help! She paused at an intersection of hallways, wondering where her mother would be in a crisis like this. Probably in the Power Room; it was the most vital and important part of the Palace. Recalling the way there, she chose one of the hallways and continued to speed down it.  
  
Ribbon burst into the Power Room, which housed the Great Crystal that powered the city. Her mother was there, frantically running about. "Ribbon!" She gasped with relief upon seeing the small fairy. "Quick! Take the Crystal and escape! It must not be captured by Dark Matter!"  
  
"Dark Matter? Is that what the black cloud is called?"  
  
Screams suddenly reached their ears as Dark Matter began invading the Palace. "Yes! Yes! Go! Hurry, and get help!" The Queen cried frantically, looking down the hallways. "Quickly! It's almost here!"  
  
"But Mommy!" Ribbon cried, close to tears. "I don't want to leave you behind! Come with me! Please!"  
  
The Queen paused her panicky running in front of her daughter and cupped Ribbon's face gently in one hand. She bent down so they were looking eye-to-eye with each other, and spoke seriously in a tone that could not be argued with. "Ribbon, the Crystal cannot transport us both. I am too heavy by myself for it to lift, let alone when riding with you as well. But alone you are small, and light. The Crystal can carry you." Ribbon was enveloped in a rather tearful hug. "I love you, my darling." The Queen whispered in Ribbon's ear. "I always have, and I always will. I'm sorry for putting such a burden on your shoulders, but you must go and seek help now, for the good of the planet." Ribbon wiped a couple tears away from her eyes, gulped audibly, and nodded. "Okay Mommy. I will." She whispered back.  
  
More screams came from the Palace hallways, sounding closer than before. It reminded them both of the urgency of the situation. The queen let go of Ribbon and backed away, motioning up to the crystal. "Hurry, and get on! Dark Matter will be here any minute!"  
  
Ribbon took one long look at the crystal, bigger than she was, and latched onto it with both hands. Her mother bent down near the crystal's base and placed both hands flat on its surface while closing her eyes and concentrating. A moment later the Crystal began glowing brightly, and the Queen stepped away. Suddenly the crystal shuddered, bunched up, and shot up into the sky at several hundred miles an hour. Ribbon's arms were wrenched terribly from the force of the acceleration, but she hung on tight. She shifted her weight a little to the left and was surprised when the crystal began to curve in that direction. She soon realized that she could steer the crystal in this fashion, and got it pointed straight up again.  
  
The queen watched Ripple Star's last hope shoot up into the stratosphere and vanish. "Farewell...my child." The Queen whispered. Turning to face the hallways, she then waited defiantly for Dark Matter to come.  
  
  
  
The crystal had a natural force field surrounding it which trapped air and heat inside, almost like a tiny atmosphere of its own. Ribbon was able to breathe, therefore, when the blue sky around her suddenly evaporated into the inky star-studded blackness of outer space. She could tell without even looking that she was now on level with Ripple Star's atmosphere; if she jumped off the crystal now, she'd be a meteor by the time she hit the ground. She shot off away from the planet for a good distance, then spun the crystal around and hovered for a moment, looking back at her home. What she saw burned permanently into her memory as one of the most horrific sights she would ever see.  
  
Dark Matter had engulfed nearly the entire planet. Only a very small portion near the South Pole was still untouched, and it was slowly getting smaller. Soon, she realized, the entire planet would fall victim to the blackness.  
  
Three black orbs of anti-light dispatched themselves from the rest of Dark Matter and began speeding in her direction. Panicking, Ribbon spun the crystal back around and resumed her original course. The orbs followed, slowly catching up with her.  
  
Ribbon looked behind herself to see the orbs only a few feet away. All three orbs opened a large, single eye within their middles and regarded her hungrily with blood-red pupils. Ribbon looked forward again and swerved just in time to avoid a couple asteroids. The rocks flew past her and nailed one of the orbs directly in its opened eye. It didn't seem fazed in the least. She sped up, hoping to outdistance the monsters, but they kept pace with her easily. One of them dove at her. Thinking fast, she leaned her weight sharply to the left. The Crystal responded by dodging out of the way just in time and nearly throwing Ribbon off. Another orb came at her from behind, but Ribbon was too busy trying to correct her balance to see it. It grazed the crystal on one side.  
  
The crystal began to blink and falter, slowing down a bit. Ribbon frantically tired to get it going again, but this time it wouldn't respond to her commands. With one last flicker, the power went out.  
  
All three orbs saw their opportunity. With one giant lunge, they hit the crystal squarely, and one of them collided with Ribbon's head for good measure. The crystal cracked once, then shattered into dozens of pieces which flew in every direction. Ribbon was flung away from the point of impact into the gravity of a nearby star-shaped planet, knocked completely senseless. The black orbs remained behind and watched, content knowing the crystal was now all but destroyed, and the fairy vanquished.  
  
Somehow, Ribbon managed to keep a tight hold on one of the shards as she fell. She sped up more and more, accelerating alarmingly down towards the planet as gravity pulled at her. She would have died a horrible death that day at the hands of heat and friction if she hadn't still been hanging onto the shard. Although the crystal was no longer whole, its natural forcefield still surrounded the individual shards. Now the field acted like a type of shield, protecting Ribbon inside as the air outside of it caught fire. Within seconds of enetering the planet's atmosphere, the field looked like a white, perfectly round fireball, leaving a red and orange trail of burning air and smoke in its wake. Somehow, the last remaining power of the shard in Ribbon's hand also gradually slowed her descent, almost like a parachute. Nonetheless, the free-fall was tortuous on the small fairy. The attack of the black orbs had nearly knocked her out, and now its effects were finally catching up with her. The world turned dark as she fainted, still clutching the shard. 


	2. Popstar, Part One: Meetings and Greeting...

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards  
  
A Fanfiction by Stoney (stoney107@yahoo.com)  
  
THE COPYRIGHT:  
  
Kirby yawned loudly. What a day, he thought wearily to himself as he watched the fishing rod firmly gripped between his arms fail spectacularly to catch anything. He sighed, idly glancing around at the rest of the wooden dock he sat upon. Nothing to do, nothing to do...  
  
A sudden flash of light caught his attention. "What the--?" He gasped, dropping the rod. It was promptly pulled into the water by a fish that took the bait at that moment, but Kirby didn't notice. His attention was focused on the shiny green bottle floating near the edge of the dock. He dashed over to the edge and grabbed the bottle out of the water, holding it up to the light curiously. Just as he'd thought--there was a rolled-up piece of paper crammed inside.  
  
Carefully Kirby pulled out the cork at its top and dumped the wad of paper out onto his palm. Fumbling with it in his excitement, he quickly unfolded it to read what it said.  
  
As he read it, his excited expression slowly turned to one of confusion and disbelief. By the end of the message, he was sweatdropping. Wondering if he'd accidentally misread the contents, he started at the beginning and re- read it, this time out loud:  
  
"Kirby, Ribbon, Waddle Dee, King Dedede, Adeline, Dark Matter, Pop Star, and all related characters and/or places are copyright HAL laboratories. All rights reserved."  
  
AUTHOR'S INCOHERENT RAMBLINGS 'N STUFF:  
  
Man, it has been WAY too long since I last updated this story. To all of you who have been impatiently waiting for me to get off my lazy butt and upload this chapter, I apologize. There is no wait longer than that of an eager reader awaiting the next installment of their favorite book, is there? For a while I actually considered not finishing this story, as I was just far too busy with my other fanfiction to sit down and write the update. (Oh, the horror!) Luckily for you guys, I changed my mind.  
  
Each world of Kirby 64 will definitely take more than one chapter to complete, due mostly to the game's massive length and depth. You'll find that I try to put a lot more detail into the cutscenes than the game itself does; I tend to find that this way is a much more preferable reading experience for all of us.  
  
Also note that at strategic points during the story, the point-of-view may change from third-person to first-person. The person who is narrating in the first-person perspective should usually be quite obvious, although sometimes I might keep it a secret on purpose.  
  
Umm, I think that's all I wanted to say for now. So seal up all the cheese and shut those blinds, 'cause here we go!  
  
POPSTAR, PART ONE: MEETINGS AND GREETINGS  
  
For millennia, people have often wondered about the strange, wonderful force that is wind. It is powerful and terrible at times, calm and soothing at others, but always invisible, mysterious, and awesome in its ability. The wind can do certain things that nothing else can, performing tricks on the mind and senses that are nothing short of awe-inspiring.  
  
One of these tricks it performed now, upon a peaceful field of grass. The small plants swayed gently, the breeze's soft breath playing with their many flexible blades in an almost childlike fashion. A bird's-eye view of the scene would have revealed a vast green sea of constant motion, of graceful, natural movement that could be mistaken for rippling water at a moment's notice.  
  
A single island broke up the ocean of grass; it was a bright-colored figure, sitting on a large hill and watching the sky with rapt attention. He was visible even at that late hour, with no source of light except the distant stars above; what with his pink skin and bright red shoes, he stood out instantly from his surroundings like the proverbial sore thumb. His body was small and round like a balloon, and indeed he seemed to bounce around when he moved as if filled with air. He had no visible hands to see, instead only a small, round knob of an arm on each side, devoid of fingers or thumbs. He slowly rocked back and forth, his gaze fixed above on a single star that had moved out of place at that moment.  
  
Kirby was his name.  
  
"What a beautiful sky tonight." He commented to himself as he continued to watch the moving star. Of course, this was nothing special; skies were always clear and beautiful on his home planet of Popstar, part of a chain of planets that had come to be known as the kingdom of Dreamland. But he was thankful anyway for the good weather, because it gave him the opportunity to practice one of his favorite pastimes.  
  
A contented expression overtook Kirby's face as he pointed up at the sky and began counting all the stars he could see. "One, two, three, four, five..." Kirby lost himself in the simple enjoyment of the activity, momentarily forgetting about the moving star he'd been so interested in earlier. He never noticed it move out of his field of vision and slowly grow larger, expanding from pin-head size to that of a golf ball, then a tennis ball, and then a volleyball.  
  
A faint, high-pitched shrieking noise interrupted Kirby's counting at two thousand and fifty-seven. He winced, surprised at the sudden attack. "What IS that?!" He muttered angrily, standing up and glancing around for the noise's source. Unfortunately, he forgot to look up; If he had, he would've noticed the bright ball of light fast bearing down on the hill where he stood.  
  
Kirby pressed both of his arms tightly against the sides of his head, apparently protecting whatever he used for ears from the painful wail. But the sound grew louder, rising higher and higher, bypassing the ears altogether and stabbing directly into his brain. He doubled over onto the ground, expression becoming more agonized by the moment, his teeth grinding against each other to keep him from crying out. Just as he decided that he couldn't take anymore, it happened.  
  
The explosion took him completely by surprise; it almost seemed to him like the dirt and grass where he lay had suddenly become a giant spring that launched him up into the night sky. He was hurled a good forty meters away from where he'd stood previously, his light weight adding to the length of the trajectory until gravity finally noticed him defying its authority and began pulling him back down from his flight. He let out a bewildered yell as he landed flat on his face and skidded to a halt, leaving a dirty brown trail in his wake before toppling over onto his back with a soft "Oof!"  
  
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Ow.  
  
...what the heck?  
  
I knew it. Life would never let me have peace for any length of time. Just goes to show you how much I'm cursed to adventure.  
  
I lay still for a couple moments, wondering if it was worth the trouble for me to get up and go see what had happened. My curiosity won out, eventually. Hauling myself to my feet with a stifled groan, I peered about for the large hill I'd picked earlier to do some stargazing on. It wasn't there; instead there was a smoldering crater in its place, easy to see even from that distance. A large plume of dirty gray smoke still curled up from the crater's center, which lay some 10 feet below ground level by my estimate.  
  
Wonderful. On top of everything else, God had to go and smite my favorite hill, too. Now where the heck am I gonna stargaze from? And what in the name of the Star Rod made that explosion?  
  
I stumbled forward dizzily, teetering on the brink of imbalance and drifting slightly from side to side as I made my slow way over to the crash site. I must've been hit harder by the explosion than I thought; my vision seemed shaky at best, and I could swear at times that I saw two craters instead of one. Nonetheless, I managed the trek with some degree of difficulty and pulled up short at the crater edge, gazing in shocked silence at the widespread destruction within its perimeter. "What happened here?!" I blurted out, mentally slapping myself afterwards. It wasn't like I'd get an answer from the silent crater, after all. Besides, it was pretty obvious what had happened; although meteorites were fairly uncommon occurrences in Dreamland, they weren't unheard of.  
  
Great. So a meteorite falls, and just so happens to choose ME as its landing spot. Seems pretty suspicious, if you ask me.  
  
Carefully picking my way through the scattered rocks and dirt that had been uprooted and flung in every direction during impact, I cautiously inched my way towards the center of the circular ditch. I squinted my eyes, barely discerning something there in the darkness, glittering with the starlight from above.....  
  
Well, with my luck, it'll be a toaster oven or some other thingamajig that needs an outlet to work.  
  
At last I made it to the center. Taking a quick pause as I rested my weary legs and took a good look at what lay there, I raised my eyebrows in surprise. It wasn't an oven, thankfully. Other than that, I'd been expecting some sort of space rock, or metal; what I found instead was wholly different.  
  
First there was the human. At least, I thought it was a human. Although upon closer inspection, I realized that the being was probably not from the planet Earth. She was too small, for one thing; and I doubt that the humans I knew about had evolved a twin pair of wings since I'd last seen them a couple years ago.  
  
Perplexed, I rubbed my head where it'd been bruised by my earlier crash- landing. This creature was obviously female, judging by her appearance and style of clothing. But since I'd never seen anything like her before, I couldn't be sure.  
  
I turned to inspect the second object lying there. It was a small crystal shard, about as large as the alien's fist and glittering brightly in the meager starlight. It was shaped like a three-dimensional diamond, and although sharp at the ends, it was smooth and polished like glass at the sides. I slowly picked it up, fascinated by the way light seemed to bend while passing through it. I held it up above myself to see better, tilting it this way and that and studying every inch of its surface, mesmerized by the faint bluish glow it emanated.  
  
--------------------  
  
Ribbon groaned and opened her eyes, holding her head groggily as she looked about herself. She was floating in a black void, completely devoid of image or sound. She grew confused, questions rising to her mind. What had happened? Where was she?  
  
A small, bright point of light appeared in front of her, growing larger and expanding to encompass her entire field of vision. She blinked and squinted, using her arms to shield her face from the blinding light as it surrounded her.....  
  
Flash.  
  
She was underwater, surrounded by tropical fish who swam up to her, unafraid and curious at the same time. She was paralyzed in surprise, her lungs screaming for air as the oxygen she had breathed a moment before vanished. Suddenly a dark shadow swept through the fish's ranks, making them scatter in fear before it dived at her, hungry red eyes fixed on her face...  
  
"Are thee ready?" A whisper spoke in her mind. "The hour has come. Darkness returns, back from business undone....."  
  
Flash.  
  
Firm ground stood underneath her feet; fiery death surrounded her on all sides. Flames leapt up from molten rock bubbling inside deep crevices, occasionally spewing out globs of lava to hiss and sizzle upon the blackish rock where she stood. The water that had soaked into her clothes instantly evaporated into steam in the dense heat.  
  
The lava began to convulse, as if alive, rippling and bubbling faster than before. It surged upward with a roar, forming a tall mound of bright yellow and deep red, out of which two eyes as black as midnight glared through the hellish flames at her small form. Their murderous intent was so obvious that Ribbon couldn't help but scream in terror.  
  
"The Nine have awoken, and the Sword is aware. Trials will come, but thou should not despair....."  
  
Flash.  
  
The oppressive sun beat down heavily upon her. She stood atop a tall, rocky mountain, gazing out across a scorched and barren desert wasteland. Only a meager few cacti broke up the monotony of the sandy landscape in every direction, making the scene look bleak and inhospitable. Abruptly the sun's glare disappeared, and Ribbon looked up to see a massive shadowy shape blocking out most of the sky, with small colored lights blinking at irregular intervals across its surface.  
  
"Though difficult and painful the journey will be, one shall come forth in the end to save thee....."  
  
Flash.  
  
Cold! Freezing! Numb! Snow all around her, piled up in huge drifts that were over thrice her height. She was surrounded by a raging blizzard, the icy wind and rain biting mercilessly into her skin and chilling her down to the bone. Her teeth immediately began chattering, as she wrapped her arms around herself in a desperate attempt to stay warm. In some unoccupied corner of her mind, Ribbon realized that the extreme temperature changes would've probably turned a normal human's nervous system to mush by now. Luckily, she was not human, and she knew it.  
  
"This is your charge; first you must seek the shards. Hurry, and stop not nor falter....."  
  
Flash.  
  
A dense fog billowed up around her, gloomy and gray. It was neither cold nor warm-a fact for which she was thankful. The sky was black as midnight, yet the light from the moon and the stars could not penetrate the smoky air enough to be visible from where she was. Mysterious structures loomed up out of the mist, little more than misshapen shadows in the gathering darkness.  
  
"The four bring the light, sixty-one will shine bright. Do not slack, or our dark fate won't alter."  
  
Flash.  
  
There was a pause, during which Ribbon stared into the blackness warily, awaiting the next shock to come. The light reappeared, no longer blinding but instead glowing softly, outlining the silhouettes of four figures standing in front of her. Two were short and round, one taller and humanoid, and the fourth massive and bulky beside them. The solemn voice spoke one last time, softly and gently in her ear;  
  
"It has begun. Fly hard, little one....."  
  
A final flash of light, and Ribbon awoke.  
  
--------------------  
  
Kirby tore himself away from the crystal when he sensed movement in the alien's direction. Glancing down at the small creature, he realized it was still alive, much to his surprise. Forgetting about the crystal for the moment, he kneeled down next to the alien and gently shook its shoulder, trying to rouse it. When this elicited no response, he shook harder.  
  
Suddenly two large eyes snapped open to gaze back at him. Yelping in surprise, Kirby dropped the crystal shard and leaped backwards to put some room between them. The sound woke Ribbon completely, and she slowly dragged herself up from her fallen position with a weary moan. Blinking to get the fuzziness out of her vision, she looked around herself for the first time. Then she saw Kirby.  
  
"AAAAHHH!" She screamed, taking off into flight and scaring the dickens out of Kirby yet again. Terrified, they stared frozen at each other for a few seconds, neither one willing to make the first move and provoke the other.  
  
A flash of light interrupted them both, and they both glanced at the crystal, which had begun pulsing brightly. It lifted itself into the air, shining in an enchanting rhythm, before moving over to Ribbon and gently settling itself in her palm. At the sight of the familiar, gentle glow, much of Ribbon's fear fled. Her mouth opened before she had a chance to stop herself. "Where am I?" She blurted out, then mentally slapped herself. This weird being probably didn't understand her...  
  
Kirby blinked twice. He had never expected the alien to speak his language. "Er...you're on my home planet, Popstar." He replied, shifting his weight uncomfortably. "Uh, if you don't mind telling me, who and what are you?"  
  
Ribbon was also quite surprised that Kirby's words made sense to her. "Huh? You can understand me?"  
  
Kirby tilted his head to one side slightly, inspecting Ribbon's face. "Yeah. I know lots of languages. I suppose you could call me something of an expert on them." He was beginning to relax-this being obviously meant no harm to him.  
  
"Oh, okay." A bit of an awkward silence ensued. Ribbon decided to speak up again. "Um, my name's Ribbon. Thanks for waking me up, by the way."  
  
For the first time, Ribbon saw Kirby smile. "You're welcome. I'm Kirby. Pleased to meet you, Ribbon." He rubbed the bruised portion of his head again, glancing at the sky before looking at Ribbon again. "So, uh, do you normally greet people by falling on top of them, or am I just special?"  
  
A giggle. "No, I don't. You see, I...was..." Ribbon's thoughts ground to a halt. She blinked. "What the...?"  
  
Kirby watched her, getting more curious by the second. "What's wrong?"  
  
Ribbon glanced briefly at him, before returning to staring off into the distance. She had tried to recall her memories of what had happened before she'd woken up, but they wouldn't come. She squinted in concentration, trying again. Nothing came to mind. Her face grew confused. She blinked again, her mouth silently opening as though to speak. Finally, sound came forth. "I..."  
  
"What? What is it? Are you okay?" Kirby was growing a little worried. Ribbon gave him a frightened and surprised look, before replying to his questions in a small, terrified squeak.  
  
"I...I can't remember..."  
  
Kirby raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's weird. You can't remember anything at all?"  
  
Ribbon shook her head. "No...nothing. I can't remember anything. There's just a big blank spot in my memory."  
  
Kirby stared at the ground thoughtfully. "Hmm...well, what's the last thing you DO remember?"  
  
Ribbon started to grow panicky. "Nothing! I can't recall my entire life! What's wrong with me?! Why can't I remember?!? I mean, I know my name..."  
  
"Yes, well, that's a start." Kirby assured her, returning his soothing gaze to her big blue eyes. "Hey, it'll be okay, Ribbon. Look, I found you here with that shard, so I think it belongs to you. Maybe it can help you remember something."  
  
Ribbon glanced down at the glowing rock in her hands. It felt warm, but not hot; just enough to be comforting. "I guess..."  
  
"Oh, don't look so crestfallen," Kirby chastised her gently. "I tell you what-I know a friend who loves to study Popstar's neighboring planets and galaxies. He could probably help you."  
  
As this sentence registered, hope shone forth on Ribbon's face. "Really? Where is he?"  
  
"He lives in a cabin near here, so it shouldn't be too far of a walk. Come on, I'll take you there."  
  
Ribbon glanced at the shard again, wondering why it felt so familiar, and why some deep down protective emotion emerged every time she looked at it. It's deep midnight-blue color shone surprisingly bright, as if it were somehow amplifying the starlight that was cast over the area. But that was stupid, Ribbon realized; nothing could do that!  
  
Although, come to think of it.....it did seem to be getting brighter around her. Was the sun coming up or something?  
  
For some reason, Ribbon felt compelled to look up at the sky at that moment. She tilted her head back, and gasped. Her eyes were wide with awe as she stared straight up at the spectacle she'd found taking place above her.  
  
Bright points of light were soaring in every which direction across the sky, leaving glowing trails in their wake. Some of them disappeared over the horizon, while others vanished before making it there. The leftover trails burned into her vision, making her see spots. All in all, the phenomenon was amazing to look at.  
  
Kirby saw it, too. "Gosh, that's unusual." He exclaimed, while Ribbon blinked rapidly and rubbed her optics with her free hand to clear her sight. "If there was going to be a meteor shower tonight, Waddee would've told me about it. What's going on?"  
  
Ribbon wasn't listening. When she'd seen those lights zooming past, something deep in her mind had called out to her, trying to get her attention. She closed her eyes and toned out all other sounds, concentrating on the soft, faint voice that was speaking to her in her mind. It was familiar, she could tell that much. Soft and gentle, soothing and comforting at the same time. It spoke in rushed tones, as if afraid of running out of time to say what it wanted to. She focused her thoughts on it, trying to understand what it was saying.....  
  
"Ribbon?"  
  
Another, louder voice sent her crashing back into reality, drawing her out of her silent reverie. She blinked slowly, bringing the pink face above her into focus.  
  
"Ribbon, are you okay?"  
  
It was Kirby, leaning over her with a concerned expression. She was lying limp and sprawled out on the grass, one hand tightly gripping the shard as if afraid it would be stolen from her. Ribbon sat up with a wince. How had she gotten on the ground? "Ugh...yeah, yeah I am." She sighed. She'd been so close to finding something, she just knew it...that must've been a memory. It had to be. But what could it mean? She grunted in irritation, abruptly taking off in a flutter of wings.  
  
Kirby jumped a little, startled. "Whagh! Don't DO that!" He gasped, holding a hand to his chest and taking deep breaths to calm his racing heart.  
  
Ribbon was taken aback. "Huh? What's wrong? Do what?"  
  
"Take off like that and scare me! You nearly gave me a heart attack the first time."  
  
"Take off?" Ribbon blinked, looking down at the ground far below her feet, then at the four wings rapidly beating the air behind her. A connection was made. "I'm flying?"  
  
Kirby stood up and nodded. "Yup, you sure are. You didn't remember you could?"  
  
"No..." Ribbon was gazing in fascination at how high she seemed to be.  
  
"Hmm. I wonder what other abilities you've got...?" Kirby muttered. Out loud he exclaimed, "Well anyway, we'd better be going! It'll take around three hours to get to Waddee's house....."  
  
"Who?" Ribbon blurted before catching herself. "Sorry."  
  
"S'alright. Waddee is my friend I was telling you about. Anyway, like I said, it'll be a little while before we get to his house, and the sun's starting to come up now, so if we're lucky we'll get there around midmorning."  
  
Ribbon digested this information, deciding that it sounded fine to her. "Okay."  
  
"Great! Let's get going, then!"  
  
The tiny fairy fluttered after Kirby as he rounded a small hill in front of them, headed towards a worn dirt path in the distance.  
  
--------------------  
  
Small and ancient, the cabin basked in the rising light of the sun, slowly warming under the growing heat of day. It appeared rustic and peaceful from a distance, while warm and welcoming up close. Though it wasn't very big, what with a capacity of only three rooms to its name, it was suitable for living purposes, and that was really all that mattered to its lone inhabitant.  
  
The inhabitant in question had just erupted out of the front door, shrieking in unmasked glee, waving his arms in the air and practically dancing with excitement. He'd been watching the meteor shower ever since it had began, and had spotted one of the falling objects impact close to here. He looked around quickly, trying to remember which direction it had landed in.....east, if his memory served him correctly. He bounded away over the short rustling grass, forgetting in his eagerness to close the cabin's door behind himself. Had he remained behind a moment longer, he would've spotted the two weary travelers approaching his house on an old, dusty path. Unfortunately he hadn't waited, and thusly missed them by mere seconds.  
  
"Ohboyohboyohboyohboy....." He giggled, excitement making him lightheaded. An event like this probably wouldn't happen again for another three billion years at the least; uncharted meteor showers were exceptionally rare in this part of the galaxy, and a possible opportunity to study their contents was even rarer--it was the astronomer's equivalent of a dream come true.  
  
There.....he could see a massive crater stretching out before him, nestled neatly inbetween two tall hills. Pausing to gaze out upon the destruction in awe, he slowly rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Never had he seen an impact crater as perfectly formed as this one.  
  
Shaking off his stunned amazement, he quickly scrambled down to the crater's center, wondering what sort of meteorite could make such an impression in the earth upon landing. It couldn't be very big; perhaps one to two feet in length at the most.  
  
A bright, shining sparkle first caught his eyes when he was mere yards away from the center. Eyebrows shooting up in interest, he ran the last few feet and slowly reached down to pick up the beautifully intricate crystal shard that lay discarded in the upturned dirt, at the exact center of the crater.  
  
"Wow." He gasped, the word coming out as little more than a whisper. The crystal.....was unlike any other he had ever seen. Which was saying a lot, seeing as how space rocks and geology were an important part of astronomy as a whole, and he was very well learned in both.  
  
Unfortunately, the crystal diverted his attention too much, to the point where he didn't see the black orb with its deep red eye materialize out of the ground behind him.  
  
A small flock of birds that had been quietly resting in the branches of a few nearby trees were suddenly jostled off their perches by a long, ear- rending scream of surprise and pain, sweeping over the hills and finally dying out in a choked gurgle.  
  
--------------------  
  
"Hey, Waddee! Where are ya?"  
  
The question was answered with stark silence. A light breeze sweeped by, brushing the soft grass up against Kirby's feet and making the wide-open door to his friend's cabin creak open slowly. He raised an eyebrow at the lack of an answer, as well as the door's unlocked state. Odd.....  
  
"Maybe he's not home?" Ribbon suggested tenatively from above his right shoulder. Kirby shook his head.  
  
"No, that's not it. He'd close the door if he left." Slowly the Dreamlander walked up to the door and opened it more, peering inside. "Something strange is going on here....." His eyes suddenly widened, and he leaped back with a yelp of surprise. "Holy crap, what is THAT?!"  
  
"What's what?" Ribbon asked in confusion.  
  
Her answer appeared as a large, white monster burst through the cabin wall, showering them with pieces of wood and rubble. Ribbon yelped and flew out of the debris' range, while Kirby shielded his face with one arm.  
  
Kirby glanced up at the towering monstrosity that was looking at him and hungrily licking its lips. "Okay, that's definitely not good."  
  
Standing over ten feet tall, the giant white.....thing easily dwarfed Kirby by a good two meters. He really couldn't tell what species it was; it didn't seem to have any arms or legs, although it did have a gaping maw of razor-sharp teeth currently beared in a snarl. No nose separated the aforementioned mouth from the two blood-red, evil slits that it used for eyes--eyes currently staring at Kirby with all the hate and malice they could muster.  
  
"Kirby, LOOK OUT!" Ribbon shrieked as the monster suddenly lunged for the Dreamlander's throat. Kirby didn't move, and Ribbon shut her eyes as the Monster opened wide to swallow him--  
  
--but instead of hearing Kirby's death cry, Ribbon listened as a sharp whistling noise split the air, quickly followed by a loud gulping sound. Surprised, she slowly opened her eyes, expecting to see the monster's horrible shape leaning over to eat her as well.  
  
But all she saw was Kirby, rocking back on his heels and grinning mischievously. Ribbon's jaw dropped. "Huh? Whuh? How did you....."  
  
"Survive?" Kirby finished for her. She nodded dumbly in reply, and his grin grew wider. "Well, that's actually a pretty interesting story. You see--"  
  
A bloodcurdling scream suddenly interrupted them, coming from two hills nearby. Kirby's eyes widened. "Whoa. Did you hear that? It sounded like Waddee!" He gasped, thoroughly alarmed at the idea. Exchanging a horrified look with Ribbon, he began dashing for the twin hills as fast as his feet could take him.  
  
"HEY! Wait for me!" Ribbon cried indignantly after him before racing to catch up, translucent wings a blur.  
  
--------------------  
  
Breathe.  
  
In.  
  
Out.  
  
Feel strong. Have arms, legs now.  
  
.....where Shiny?  
  
Breathe.  
  
In.  
  
Out.  
  
There. Next to foot.  
  
Pick up, feel happy. Shiny is caught, can't be used now.  
  
.....what the?  
  
Breathe.  
  
In.  
  
Out.  
  
Strangers come. One pink. Round. Fluffy. The other.....  
  
.....HER! But she dead! How are alive?  
  
Breathe.  
  
In.  
  
Out.  
  
.....will make her dead again.  
  
--------------------  
  
Kirby rounded one of the large hills before him, praying that the view on the other side wasn't what he thought it'd be. It wasn't, but what he did see surprised and horrified him, nonetheless.  
  
"Ohmigosh! WADDEE!" Kirby yelled, staring in shock at the massive brown crater and the small brown individual at its center. The being looked up at him with its massive singular eye, placed in the middle of its rotund body.  
  
Ribbon floated uncertainly behind Kirby. "Um.....is that what he normally looks like?" She asked nervously, sensing a great evil was present in the area.  
  
"No!" Kirby exclaimed, stumbling backwards. Something had happened to his friend, and had changed his appearance somehow, he knew. Now the cycloptic Waddee was staring at him angrily, as if he posed a threat of some sort and needed to be gotten rid of for safety.  
  
--------------------  
  
Pink one yells. Walks backward.  
  
Breathe.  
  
In.  
  
Out.  
  
.....now Pink One is in way. Cannot hurt her with Pink One in way.  
  
Breathe.  
  
In.  
  
Out.  
  
.....kill Pink One, then kill her.  
  
Breathe.  
  
In.  
  
Out.  
  
Make loud sound. Charge forward.  
  
Attack.  
  
--------------------  
  
Suddenly, Waddee gave an animalistic scream and charged at Kirby, arms raised to strike. Ribbon screamed in terror, and Kirby braced himself for the assault that he knew would be coming. 


End file.
